Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) race to resilience just became more urgent with the release of the IPCC 1.5 degrees C Special Report. The Africa region must adapt to the 0.5 degrees C warming of the past 50 years, while at the same time prepare for the intensification of climate change impacts.
... See More + The good news is that the region is not starting from zero; the bad news is that the current pace of climate action is far from adequate. The Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) has been a galvanizing platform for climate action since its launch in December 2015, yet it must be even more ambitious in the scale and pace of climate action in the face of a new urgency to manage climate risks and deliver on climate-resilient development. Highlights of the progress up to andincluding FY18 as well as the main outstanding challenges are summarized here. The report also highlights successful projects that can be replicated, key lessons learned, and reflects on future strategic directions.
See Less -

Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) race to resilience just became more urgent with the release of the IPCC 1.5 degrees C Special Report. The Africa region must adapt to the 0.5 degrees C warming of the past 50 years, while at the same time prepare for the intensification of climate change impacts.
... See More + The good news is that the region is not starting from zero; the bad news is that the current pace of climate action is far from adequate. The Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) has been a galvanizing platform for climate action since its launch in December 2015, yet it must be even more ambitious in the scale and pace of climate action in the face of a new urgency to manage climate risks and deliver on climate-resilient development. Highlights of the progress up to andincluding FY18 as well as the main outstanding challenges are summarized here. The report also highlights successful projects that can be replicated, key lessons learned, and reflects on future strategic directions.
See Less -

Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) race to resilience just became more urgent with the release of the IPCC 1.5°C Special Report. The Africa region must adapt to the 0.5°C warming of the past 50 years, while at the same time prepare for the intensification of climate change impacts.
... See More + The good news is that the region is not starting from zero; the bad news is that the current pace of climate action is far from adequate. The Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) has been a galvanizing platform for climate action since its launch in December 2015, yet it must be even more ambitious in the scale and pace of climate action in the face of a new urgency to manage climate risks and deliver on climate-resilient development. Highlights of the progress up to and including FY18 as well as the main outstanding challenges are summarized here. The report also highlights successful projects that can be replicated, key lessons learnt, and reflects on future strategic directions.
See Less -

In recent times, cross-border migration and its implications for host countries have captured high-profile global attention. But there is increasing recognition that far more people are migrating within their own countries than across borders.
... See More + They move for many reasons, economic, social, political, and environmental. Now, climate change has emerged as a potent driver of internal migration, propelling increasing numbers of people to move from vulnerable to more viable areas of their countries to build new lives. This report, which focuses on three regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population, finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people, or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions, could be forced to move within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change. They will migrate from less viable areas with lower water availability and crop productivity and from areas affected by rising sea level and storm surges. The poorest and most climate vulnerable areas will be hardest hit. These trends, alongside the emergence of ‘hotspots’ of climate in- and out-migration, will have major implications for climate-sensitive sectors and for the adequacy of infrastructure and social support systems. The report finds that internal climate migration will likely rise through 2050 and then accelerate unless there are significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and robust development action. Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration helps to put a human face on the growing development issue of people being forced to move under distress to escape the long-term impacts of climate change. Its findings must be taken seriously if the world is to sustain recent development gains and provide sustainable livelihood options for all.
See Less -

In recent times, cross-border migration and its implications for host countries have captured high-profile global attention. But there is increasing recognition that far more people are migrating within their own countries than across borders.
... See More + They move for many reasons, economic, social, political, and environmental. Now, climate change has emerged as a potent driver of internal migration, propelling increasing numbers of people to move from vulnerable to more viable areas of their countries to build new lives. This report, which focuses on three regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population, finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people, or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions, could be forced to move within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change. They will migrate from less viable areas with lower water availability and crop productivity and from areas affected by rising sea level and storm surges. The poorest and most climate vulnerable areas will be hardest hit. These trends, alongside the emergence of ‘hotspots’ of climate in- and out-migration, will have major implications for climate-sensitive sectors and for the adequacy of infrastructure and social support systems. The report finds that internal climate migration will likely rise through 2050 and then accelerate unless there are significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and robust development action. Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration helps to put a human face on the growing development issue of people being forced to move under distress to escape the long-term impacts of climate change. Its findings must be taken seriously if the world is to sustain recent development gains and provide sustainable livelihood options for all.
See Less -

In recent times, cross-border migration and its implications for host countries have captured high-profile global attention. But there is increasing recognition that far more people are migrating within their own countries than across borders.
... See More + They move for many reasons, economic, social, political, and environmental. Now, climate change has emerged as a potent driver of internal migration, propelling increasing numbers of people to move from vulnerable to more viable areas of their countries to build new lives. This report, which focuses on three regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population, finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people, or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions, could be forced to move within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change. They will migrate from less viable areas with lower water availability and crop productivity and from areas affected by rising sea level and storm surges. The poorest and most climate vulnerable areas will be hardest hit. These trends, alongside the emergence of ‘hotspots’ of climate in- and out-migration, will have major implications for climate-sensitive sectors and for the adequacy of infrastructure and social support systems. The report finds that internal climate migration will likely rise through 2050 and then accelerate unless there are significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and robust development action. Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration helps to put a human face on the growing development issue of people being forced to move under distress to escape the long-term impacts of climate change. Its findings must be taken seriously if the world is to sustain recent development gains and provide sustainable livelihood options for all.
See Less -

In recent times, cross-border migration and its implications for host countries have captured high-profile global attention. But there is increasing recognition that far more people are migrating within their own countries than across borders.
... See More + They move for many reasons, economic, social, political, and environmental. Now, climate change has emerged as a potent driver of internal migration, propelling increasing numbers of people to move from vulnerable to more viable areas of their countries to build new lives. This report, which focuses on three regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population, finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people, or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions, could be forced to move within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change. They will migrate from less viable areas with lower water availability and crop productivity and from areas affected by rising sea level and storm surges. The poorest and most climate vulnerable areas will be hardest hit. These trends, alongside the emergence of ‘hotspots’ of climate in- and out-migration, will have major implications for climate-sensitive sectors and for the adequacy of infrastructure and social support systems. The report finds that internal climate migration will likely rise through 2050 and then accelerate unless there are significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and robust development action. Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration helps to put a human face on the growing development issue of people being forced to move under distress to escape the long-term impacts of climate change. Its findings must be taken seriously if the world is to sustain recent development gains and provide sustainable livelihood options for all.
See Less -

In recent times, cross-border migration and its implications for host countries have captured high-profile global attention. But there is increasing recognition that far more people are migrating within their own countries than across borders.
... See More + They move for many reasons, economic, social, political, and environmental. Now, climate change has emerged as a potent driver of internal migration, propelling increasing numbers of people to move from vulnerable to more viable areas of their countries to build new lives. This report, which focuses on three regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America that together represent 55 percent of the developing world’s population, finds that climate change will push tens of millions of people to migrate within their countries by 2050. It projects that without concrete climate and development action, just over 143 million people, or around 2.8 percent of the population of these three regions, could be forced to move within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change. They will migrate from less viable areas with lower water availability and crop productivity and from areas affected by rising sea level and storm surges. The poorest and most climate vulnerable areas will be hardest hit. These trends, alongside the emergence of ‘hotspots’ of climate in- and out-migration, will have major implications for climate-sensitive sectors and for the adequacy of infrastructure and social support systems. The report finds that internal climate migration will likely rise through 2050 and then accelerate unless there are significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and robust development action. Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration helps to put a human face on the growing development issue of people being forced to move under distress to escape the long-term impacts of climate change. Its findings must be taken seriously if the world is to sustain recent development gains and provide sustainable livelihood options for all.
See Less -

The brief includes the following headings: Middle East and North Africa (MENA) vulnerability to climate change; World Bank program - overall approach; reducing vulnerability; carbon emissions and low carbon growth; promoting low-carbon growth; and region-wide activities.
... See More +See Less -

The authors critically review the literature on the net domestic (within-country) economic benefits of protecting tropical forests, focusing on hydrological benefits and the production of nontimber forest products.
... See More + (The review does not consider other important classes of benefits, including global benefits of all kinds, ecological benefits which do not have instrumental economic value, and the existence value of forests.) Their main conclusions: (1)The level of net domestic benefits from forest preservation is highly sensitive to the alternative land use and to local climatic, biological, geological, and economic circumstances. When the alternative use is agroforestry or certain types of tree crops, the preservation of natural forests may yield no instrumental domestic benefits. (2)The hydrological benefits from forest preservation are poorly understood and likely to be highly variable. They may also be fewer than popularly assumed: Deforestation has not been shown to be associated with large-scale flooding. Tropical deforestation is generally associated with higher, not lower, dry season flows. Although it is plausible that deforestation should affect local precipitation, the magnitude and even the direction of the effects are unknown, except in the special case of cloud forests that "harvest" passing moisture. The link between deforestation and downstream sediment damage is sensitive to the basic topography and geology. Where sediment transport is slow - as in large, low-gradient basins - downstream impacts may manifest themselves in the distant future, so that the net present value of damage is small. Steep basins near reservoirs or marine fisheries, on the other hand, can cause substantial damage if land cover is severely disturbed. But only a few pioneering studies have examined the economics of reservoir sedimentation, and improved models of both sediment transport and dam function are needed. (3) The most impressive point estimates of forest value based on nontimber forest products are often based on atypical cases of faulty analysis. Where domesticated or synthetic substitutes exist, the nontimber forest product-related rents for natural forests will usually be driven toward zero.
See Less -

The capacity of natural forests to supply, if properly managed, a perpetual stream of timber and non-timber goods and services has been overlooked virtually everywhere; and Malaysia is no exception.
... See More + It has been established that one of the most urgent enabling measures for sustainable forest development is the valuation of the resource, in order to highlight the full extent of benefits that can be provided. This study seeks to demonstrate, using the total economic valuation (TEV) approach, the economics of shifting from the narrow "sustained timber practice" to a "sustainable forest management" system for a specific forest site in Malaysia. The results have management and policy relevance, both at the national and global levels. This paper is set out in five chapters. After the introduction, chapter 2 sets out the theory of the TEV framework used in this case study. Chapter 3 will introduce the study site and provide an overview of the characteristics of the peat forests, including the diversity of forest interactions between the various goods and services within the forests. Chapter 4 details the valuation methodology for each of the TEV components and presents estimates of the value for selected benefits provided by the forests at the study site. Chapter 5 provides an aggregate measure of the TEV under the alternative management regimes and discusses the implications of these results for future forest management strategies, from the local, national, and global perspectives.
See Less -